Verizon explains their new remote diagnostic tool

With Carrier IQ out the window, Verizon is planning on rolling out a new diagnostic tool beginning with the next update for the LG Revolution. Privacy being a hot topic among smartphone owners these days, and Verizon has been short on details in the changelog for the update. So Droid-Life reached out to Verizon for some answers about the new diagnostic tool and exactly how it works.

To sum things up shortly, the new tool is installed in the background, but will not be running and gathering data. It will only be used when the customer calls Verizon with a problem and give explicit permission for them to run diagnostics. When a customer care rep runs the diagnostics, the customer will have to press Accept on their device for it to send any info. Verizon also stated “The tool never pulls contacts, account numbers, passwords and the like.”

This sort of solution seems slightly better than the Carrier IQ option that most customers would never know was even on their phone. However there’s probably more than a few people out there that would still rather not have the application on their device. While Verizon said the diagnostic app cannot be removed, I’m sure it won’t be long before the developers find a way to extract it from the firmware and provide stock ROMs without it.

Ben Marvin
Ben is the owner/editor of The Android Site, as well as the main writer. He has been writing about Android related news since 2009 and obsessed with everything Google and Android related. You can find him on Reddit, Twitter, Google Plus and most other websites under the username benmarvin